Papa John's vs Shake Shack
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The short version
- Papa John's is the larger business, with $2.1B of revenue in fiscal 2025 against $1.4B for Shake Shack.
- Shake Shack grew revenue faster (15.4%, against −0.3%).
- Shake Shack turned more of its sales into free cash flow (3.9% FCF margin, against 3.0%).
- Papa John's earned a higher return on the capital invested in it (19.3%, against 9.6%).
- Investors pay more for each dollar of Shake Shack’s earnings: a P/E of 68.6x against 22.9x for Papa John's.
| Latest fiscal year | PZZA · FY25 | SHAK · FY25 |
|---|---|---|
| Size | ||
| Market cap | $599M | $2.7B |
| Revenue | $2.1B | $1.4B |
| Free cash flow | $61.3M | $56.5M |
| Net income | $30.5M | $45.7M |
| Growth | ||
| Revenue growth | −0.3% | 15.4% |
| 5-year growth | 2.5% | 22.6% |
| Share count change | 0.4% | −5.3% |
| Profitability | ||
| Gross margin | — | — |
| Operating margin | 4.3% | 4.3% |
| Net margin | 1.5% | 3.2% |
| FCF margin | 3.0% | 3.9% |
| Return on capital | 19.3% | 9.6% |
| Return on equity | — | 9.2% |
| Balance sheet | ||
| Net debt | $729M | −$96.7M |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 4.0x | −0.6x |
| Dividends and buybacks | $61.1M | $0.0M |
| Valuation & quality | ||
| P/E | 22.9x | 68.6x |
| Piotroski F-score | 4 | 7 |
Revenue
FY16
PZZA $1.7B
SHAK $269M
FY17
PZZA $1.8B
SHAK $359M
FY18
PZZA $1.7B
SHAK $459M
FY19
PZZA $1.6B
SHAK $595M
FY20
PZZA $1.8B
SHAK $523M
FY21
PZZA $2.1B
SHAK $740M
FY22
PZZA $2.1B
SHAK $901M
FY23
PZZA $2.1B
SHAK $1.1B
FY24
PZZA $2.1B
SHAK $1.3B
FY25
PZZA $2.1B
SHAK $1.4B
PZZA
SHAK
Operating margin
FY16
PZZA 9.6%
SHAK 10.4%
FY17
PZZA 8.5%
SHAK 9.4%
FY18
PZZA 1.9%
SHAK 6.9%
FY19
PZZA 1.5%
SHAK 4.3%
FY20
PZZA 5.0%
SHAK −8.4%
FY21
PZZA 8.1%
SHAK −2.1%
FY22
PZZA 5.2%
SHAK −3.0%
FY23
PZZA 6.9%
SHAK 0.5%
FY24
PZZA 7.6%
SHAK 0.2%
FY25
PZZA 4.3%
SHAK 4.3%
PZZA
SHAK
Free cash flow
FY16
PZZA $94.7M
SHAK −$0.2M
FY17
PZZA $82.4M
SHAK $9.4M
FY18
PZZA $50.4M
SHAK −$2.1M
FY19
PZZA $24.0M
SHAK −$16.7M
FY20
PZZA $151M
SHAK −$31.7M
FY21
PZZA $116M
SHAK −$43.1M
FY22
PZZA $39.4M
SHAK −$65.8M
FY23
PZZA $116M
SHAK −$14.0M
FY24
PZZA $34.2M
SHAK $35.7M
FY25
PZZA $61.3M
SHAK $56.5M
PZZA
SHAK
Return on capital
FY16
PZZA 39.6%
SHAK 20.2%
FY17
PZZA 36.3%
SHAK 12.6%
FY18
PZZA 6.2%
SHAK 13.8%
FY19
PZZA 15.5%
SHAK 10.2%
FY20
PZZA —
SHAK −13.3%
FY21
PZZA 122.5%
SHAK −4.3%
FY22
PZZA 32.0%
SHAK −6.1%
FY23
PZZA 38.5%
SHAK 1.5%
FY24
PZZA 36.9%
SHAK 0.5%
FY25
PZZA 19.3%
SHAK 9.6%
PZZA
SHAK
Each company's latest fiscal year; fiscal years end in different months. The best value in each row is highlighted where higher (or lower) is clearly better. Not investment advice.